Transportation, Distribution and Infrastructure
This long-time strategic center for the midwestern United States has taken on a new, global significance in a 21st century economy.
The Kansas City region has long been a strategic crossroads for the country. These days, it can boast important international connections, as well.
From the time when travel on the Missouri River was paramount, the area has been a key transportation center. That trend accelerated with the coming of the railroads, which led to the establishment of major distribution operations here for cattle and other agricultural products.
Although more than a century has passed, the trend continues unabated today. Kansas City remains the second-largest rail center in the country, while its central location and highway network make the region one of the most dynamic trucking hubs in the United States. Air travel here is solid, and several new developments guarantee that the region’s infrastructure will grow to meet a demand that seems to expand daily.
Bigger and Bigger
The most significant evidence is the construction of three major distribution centers: Logistics Park KC and CenterPoint Property intermodal parks, along with Kansas City International Airport Intermodal BusinessCentre. Although Kansas City has long stood as a key regional and national trucking hub, the recent development of these large facilities is evidence that Kansas City’s cost-saving centrality and network of interstates is recognized by both national and international businesses.
These developments feature logistic centers of 800 to 1,000 acres each and have developed despite the recession and national economic stagnation because of the clear advantage of Greater Kansas City’s location. In fact, the economies of intermodal transport from the nation’s center have become more attractive as the economy forces businesses to tighten their belts.
The first to come on-line was the CenterPoint-KCS Logistics Park facility, which opened in south Kansas City in 2009. Featuring a 370-acre intermodal facility and 970-acre industrial park, CenterPoint is operated in part by Kansas City Southern Railway, which has direct rail connection to the deepwater port at Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. The center is being developed as an alternative to the often congested Long Beach and Los Angeles ports with the additional advantage of being located where trucks can reach any part of the United States within two to three days. Another rail company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, is developing Logistics Park KC near Edgerton, Kan. With the start of construction last year, Logistics Park is envisioned as a 1,000-acre logistics center with the potential for more than 7 million square feet of building.
Air Power
The KCI Intermodal BusinessCentre sits on 800 acres adjacent to Kansas City International Airport. The first phase now being developed includes 182 acres that will support up to 1.8 million square feet of warehouse and distribution centers. In July 2011, Blount International was the first company to locate in the center, with a 349,440 square-foot Class A distribution center on 22.5 acres.
Like the other intermodal centers, KCI benefits from the region’s network of highways and interstates. All of those centers sit on or near major national routes such as Interstates 70, 29 and 35. CenterPoint is on U.S. Highway 71, which is slated to become I-49 after upgrades now under way, connecting with Interstates 10 and 20 in Louisiana. These routes provide direct connections to Mexico, Canada, the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
Kansas City’s distribution advantages don’t stop there. The region is home to the nation’s largest underground warehouse and distribution center, SubTropolis Kansas City. Used by firms looking for environmentally controlled and ultra-secure facilities, SubTropolis is operated by Hunt Midwest, which is also developing one of the region’s largest business parks directly above the underground location.
Many of these developments are near the center of Kansas City. SubTropolis is within sight of the Downtown skyline, while another project is even closer. Riverside’s new Horizons project includes a 260-acre site on I-635 that was made available because of construction of a levee on the Missouri River.
Other key developments involve one of the region’s other major airports, the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. Sitting in the shadow of Downtown Kansas City, the airport first thrived in the days when Howard Hughes operated Trans World Airlines from there. A recent infusion of $70 million in improvements has helped the airport expand its service as the region’s corporate jet hub.
Other notable air facilities include Johnson County Executive Airport in Kansas, as well as large facilities in St. Joseph and Topeka.
Big Box Plans
Even with a downturn in the economy, the development of transportation facilities is expanding. Large logistic centers have led to significant construction of nearby support facilities, especially for new warehouse and distribution facilities. Several centers of 100,000 square feet or more, featuring the latest in automated technology, are being built or planned in anticipation of demand form the intermodal centers. These and smaller centers located throughout this highway- and rail-rich region are among the most prolific construction projects in Greater Kansas City.
All of this does include some challenges. The key east-west interstate corridor in the region, I-70, is a source of steady complaint in Missouri because heavy truck traffic challenges the mostly four- or more lane route and its surface maintenance. With a price tag likely to include billions of dollars in public funding to replace or expand this 1950s-era highway, the state of Missouri remains undecided as to how such a mammoth task can be funded.
Kansas, which uses notably different funding mechanisms, is generally in better shape. An $8.2 billion, 10-year Transportation Works for Kansas program helps provide a reliable source of income for maintenance and upgrades.
Even with such challenges, the area’s transportation, distribution and logistics development is guaranteed to grow. The growing value of the region’s central location and strategic transportation network make its advantages too good to ignore.